Celestia's Foalhood

A loud squeal sounded through Fluttershy’s cottage as the water in a teapot started to boil.

“Coming!” Fluttershy shouted as she quickly entered the kitchen, as if trying to get the teapot’s attention. She picked the teapot up with a foreleg and placed it onto a tray beside the stove that already had a white cup on it, then shut the stove off. She next took the tray and put it on her back, using her winds to keep it steady as she began walking back out of the kitchen.

When she arrived at the coffee table in the main room, she carefully placed the tray on it and sat down on the couch next to it. She then took hold of the teapot again and poured some of its contents into the cup and set it back down, next tentatively grabbing the cup between her front hooves and bringing it up to her muzzle to lightly blow on it. After a moment, she took a sip, basking in the tranquility of the quiet, ambient wind and critter sounds in the pleasant midday light while she smelled the faint lavender of her tea.

Unfortunately, the serenity didn’t last long, as a resounding double knock came at her door, frightening the pegasus ans nearly making her drop her drink. She inhaled and exhaled deeply to calm herself before she sat her cup back on the table and hopped off the couch, then timidly trotted over to the front door. She closed her eyes for a moment to keep herself calm and reached a hoof forward to the door and opened it.

She next looked face-to-face with the princesses of the Sun and Moon, though something seemed a little off; notably the former being quite a bit smaller than usual and the latter having an expression of light fear and guilt on her face. The mares then stood there for a few seconds, just looking at each other before Luna spoke up.

“Hello, Fluttershy,” She said with the same tone as shown on her face.

“Um, hi...” The pegasus started before looking at the miniaturized Celestia in utter confusion. “Ummm...”

“Hi!” The solar princess chirped, waving at the primrose mare.

“H-hi,” Fluttershy lightly waved back then looked back at the other alicorn.

Luna closed her eyes and looked down for a couple seconds before beginning, “Ah, apologies, Fluttershy, for putting this upon thee so abruptly, but it appears Our sister is in need of a foalsitter.”

“W-wha?” The pink-maned pony stuttered, clearly bewildered by the suggestion.

“Our sister is not in her right mental state at the moment, so We shall need somepony to take care of her for the time being,” The lunar princess elaborated. “And, as to her current physical state, she felt unsettled by being larger than everypony, and so Starlight Glimmer agreed to shrink her to this size,” She added.

“Yeah, being bigger than mommy was scary...” Celestia added, looking frightenedly at Fluttershy.

The pegasus looked back at her, perplexed. “Mommy?” She asked, confused as to who that would be.

“Er, Twilight,” Luna corrected flatly.

“O-oh,” The yellow mare said, blushing mildly as she realized just how much a foal Celestia currently was. “W-well, I suppose I can foalsit her...”

“We shall not force this upon thee, Fluttershy,” The indigo alicorn replied in an attempt to relax the other mare, “Do not feel obligated to do this, We merely thought thou would be a good fit for this.”

“No, no, I can do it!” Fluttershy quickly responded, her voice louder than she meant which made her cover her muzzle with a hoof in a mix of shock and shame. “Um, I’m sorry,” She continued, back to her normal soft tone, “I can foalsit her, it’s just this is a bit, um, overwhelming.”

Luna nodded in understanding and said, “Of course. Thank thee for thine care and hospitality, Fluttershy.” She then looked to the side and saw her sister staring at one of the pegasus’s animals face to face. “Er, We suppose We haven’t told thee of the true extent Our sister is plagued,” She added as she looked back to the pink-maned pony with a slightly pained look on her face.

“Um, right...” The shy mare responded as she glanced towards Celestia before gasping and facing the other alicorn. “Oh, do you want some tea while you’re here? I already have some ready.”

The lunar princess smiled gently at the other pony and replied, “That sounds lovely.”

“Okay, give me a moment!” Fluttershy said as she ran back into the kitchen, leaving the indigo mare to trot over and sit down on the couch in the middle of the room, watching her sister slowly scamper about while looking around.

She turned to face the table when she heard a cup being placed on it, next finding her host to be pouring tea into a black cup beside the white one she saw there before. The pegasus continued filling the cup while staring intently at it as if she was trying to pull her focus from something else, likely being whatever was causing the slight blush on her face.

“Is anything the matter, Fluttershy?” Luna asked cautiously after the other mare set the teapot back down.

“Umm...” The shy pony started before sitting on the couch. “S-sorry, it’s just something stupid...” She said quietly, then glanced back to the night princess and saw a look of light concern and confusion on her face. “C-Celestia calling somepony her mommy sounds kind of... naughty...” She elaborated, nearly whispering as she looked away, blushing harder.

The blue alicorn chuckled lightly and blushed a little at that, then grabbed the black cup with her magic. “Mm, We suppose that makes sense,” She responded before moving the cup next to her muzzle and sniffed tentatively, smiling pleasantly from the scent. “We also suppose it is even worse given how Twilight is whom she calls such,” She added amusedly, then took a sip of her tea.

“R-right...” Fluttershy said before taking her own sip. “Um, do you know why she’s like this?” She asked after taking a moment to think.

“Not entirely,” Luna replied, then sighed and paused for a second. “However,” She continued, “We know Our sister has occasionally indulged herself with alcohol previously, to which the outcomes have been rather variable. None of them have really been as bad as this, though,” She said while glancing over to and waving a hoof at her sister, “So We need somepony to take care of her that We trust would not gossip about it.”

“Oh, okay,” The yellow pegasus responded, then went back to her drink. “But, wait,” She added after a couple seconds, “What about the castle staff? You don’t trust them?”

The lunar princess sighed deeply before replying, “Unfortunately, no. We know not much about them, and while they have sworn loyalty to Us, we doubt that they would be able to keep it entirely amongst themselves forever. And,” She continued, putting her cup back on the table, “It is easy to see why we have not chosen any other of our friends for this.”

“Of course,” Fluttershy responded and took a minute to think about her friends and how they clearly wouldn’t work for foalsitting princess Celestia. Rarity would probably be too busy, Pinkie too chaotic, Applejack not private enough, and Rainbow Dash would likely just make fun of her. She next opened her mouth to voice another question, but was cut off when she heard a high-pitched bawling unlike any of her animals.

The mares then looked at each other in confusion for a moment before turning around to find the solar princess sitting down and crying, a tinge of yellow coating one of her hind legs.

“Lulu!” The alicorn wailed, “Some weird stuff came out of me and made me wet!”

Luna then sighed and facehoofed while the other gained an amused blush. “Damn it.”